Patents by Inventor James J. Shearer

James J. Shearer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10013776
    Abstract: Methods, devices, systems, and computer readable media to improve the operation of window-based operating systems are disclosed. In general, techniques are disclosed for rendering areas on a display in which two or more shadows overlap. More particularly, two or more shadow regions (based on the arrangement of overlapping windows/shadows) are identified and merged in a top-down process so that no region's shadow is painted or rendered more than once. A shadowbuffer (analogous to a system's framebuffer) may be used to retain windows' alpha information separately from the corresponding windows' shadow intensity information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James J. Shearer, Christopher P. Wright, Ryan N. Armstrong, Chad E. Jones
  • Publication number: 20170249757
    Abstract: Methods, devices, systems, and computer readable media to improve the operation of window-based operating systems are disclosed. In general, techniques are disclosed for rendering areas on a display in which two or more shadows overlap. More particularly, two or more shadow regions (based on the arrangement of overlapping windows/shadows) are identified and merged in a top-down process so that no region's shadow is painted or rendered more than once. A shadowbuffer (analogous to a system's framebuffer) may be used to retain windows' alpha information separately from the corresponding windows' shadow intensity information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2017
    Publication date: August 31, 2017
    Inventors: James J. Shearer, Christopher P. Wright, Ryan N. Armstrong, Chad E. Jones
  • Patent number: 9679396
    Abstract: Methods, devices, systems, and computer readable media to improve the operation of window-based operating systems is disclosed. In general, techniques are disclosed for correctly rendering areas on a display in which two or more shadows overlap. More particularly, two or more shadow regions (based on the arrangement of overlapping windows/shadows) are identified and merged in a top-down process so that no region's shadow is painted or rendered more than once. To accomplish this a shadowbuffer (analogous to a system's framebuffer) may be used to retain windows' alpha information separately from the corresponding windows' shadow intensity information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James J. Shearer, Christopher P. Wright, Ryan N. Armstrong, Chad E. Jones
  • Publication number: 20150348286
    Abstract: Methods, devices, systems, and computer readable media to improve the operation of window-based operating systems is disclosed. In general, techniques are disclosed for correctly rendering areas on a display in which two or more shadows overlap. More particularly, two or more shadow regions (based on the arrangement of overlapping windows/shadows) are identified and merged in a top-down process so that no region's shadow is painted or rendered more than once. To accomplish this a shadowbuffer (analogous to a system's framebuffer) may be used to retain windows' alpha information separately from the corresponding windows' shadow intensity information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Inventors: James J. Shearer, Christopher P. Wright, Ryan N. Armstrong, Chad E. Jones